


Bring It On Home to Me

by TaniaRose



Category: Adventures in Babysitting (1987)
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Female Characters, Female Protagonist, Feminist Themes, Fluff, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Nostalgia, POV Female Character, Reunions, Unrequited Crush, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 18:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5507915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaniaRose/pseuds/TaniaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fourteen years after a night that changed their lives, Chris Parker reunites with the Anderson kids, who are very much not kids anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring It On Home to Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizwontcry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizwontcry/gifts).



For Chris Parker, coming back home is always bittersweet. Especially this time, when it’s been a while. She’s been so busy with work since she got promoted that finding time for anything else has been harder than it should be, but this year it seemed important to make a serious effort to return home for the holidays.

Chris isn’t much for the hysteria of the festive season but the old neighbourhood does look beautiful as she pulls into the street she grew up on, all the lights shining brightly out into the dark.

Her mother is waiting for her at the door and Chris smiles, although Mom’s looking so much older lately. Chris is looking older herself, and tries to forget that she’s only nine years away from the big 40. Time flies when you’re having fun, she muses. 

That’s what her mother doesn’t quite understand, how genuinely _fun_ working is for Chris, how much she truly loves her job in the city and the hustle and bustle of it all. Coming home is like coming back down to earth. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes Chris can’t connect who she was when she was growing up here to the well-established, highly respected businesswoman she’s become.

Parking in the driveway and then exchanging hugs and gifts with her mother at the door, Chris doesn’t realise how much she actually did need a break until she’s back in her childhood room, flopping down on the bed.

It never changes here. Her room is just as it was when she left for college, although freshly cleaned in preparation for her visit. Only the faded wallpaper and dated accessories show the passing of the years. 

A few hours later the phone’s ringing, and Chris couldn’t be more surprised when it’s Daryl Coopersmith on the other end of the line.

She hasn’t so much as thought of him in years but as soon as she hears his voice – older, deeper but undeniably him, she’s back in 1987. It’s not a surprise he knows she’s back in town. Her mother will have told everyone she was coming and news here travels fast. She wonders if Daryl himself is just visiting or if he never left. She knows, from her mother, that Brad and Sara come home every year, driving in from their apartment in the city like Chris does.

The phone call is brief, and kind of stilted…it’s been much too long since Chris has spoken to any of them…but Daryl wants them to meet, and Chris can’t say no. She feels curiously apprehensive about seeing them all again if only because of how long it’s been and how much she’s changed since she left town for college.

She’d like to think college was the making of her, and while in many ways it was she knows, truthfully, that one crazy night they spent gallivanting around Chicago like headless chickens was the day she really started to grow up. Of course, back then she thought she’d done her growing up already. She thought she was so mature, dating a guy like Mike and preparing to leave school and finally become an adult.

She couldn’t help but let out a snort at how clueless she’d been.

Still, Mike hadn’t been a complete waste of time. She’d learned everything about how a relationship _shouldn’t_ be from that creep and never again had she gotten so starry eyed over a man. Remembering Mike used to make her embarrassed at how hopelessly naive she’d been back then. Now it makes her proud at how far she’s come.

The rest of the day passes slowly as Chris rests, has supper and then gets some proper sleep. She’s thinking a lot about seeing Daryl and Brad again. Sara’s not such a concern, still much younger than Chris. Chris doesn’t know why she’s nervous about reuniting with the boys. Maybe because it’s like meeting them again for the first time. She’s not seen them since she left home at eighteen. They will be completely different now, although Daryl sounded just the same on the telephone.

They’re meeting for lunch, so Chris spends the following morning getting a few things for Christmas and familiarizing herself again with the little town that seems so alien to her now. She sees a lot of old faces, who all inevitably ask her _those_ questions about husbands and children. She smiles and makes a joke about being married to her work but she senses disapproval every time. It bemuses her how there are still little hovels like this that time seems to forget. Anyway, she’s only thirty-one. It’s not like there isn’t time, whatever other people say.

“Hey, you made it!”

Daryl’s welcome is warm when Chris arrives at the restaurant a little after noon. Just like his voice, his appearance hasn’t changed much at all. His red hair is shorter now, darker, and he’s gained a little weight but she would have easily been able to spot him in a crowd.

“The others aren’t here yet but if you’re hungry…” he starts, and Chris nearly bursts out laughing because of course he is not that ridiculous teenage boy from well over a decade ago anymore, he’s very much a grown man and it’s jarring for a second. She recovers herself and they go order some wine, and she indulges on a bread roll from the table. Small talk is small, and a little awkward for the first few minutes, but then they slip into a more natural rhythm as they talk about what they studied in college, their jobs, Daryl’s kids. 

_Daryl_ has _kids_. 

Chris would love to know if they are as monstrous as he was. She’d bet money on yes, and then some.

Sara and Brad show up about twenty minutes later. Brad is cool and confident and a million light years away from the spotty, dorky teenager of their youth. He’s dressed casually in jeans and what looks like a new sweater. Sara looks wonderful, wearing her hair in a flattering bob. She looks so happy and healthy and Chris is glad.

“Not that it’s not great to see you guys again,” Chris starts when they’ve all sat down and gotten their food “but what are we doing here? Something going on?”

Sara and Brad look at each other and grin and Chris pictures their fifteen and eight-year-old selves sitting across from her for a second. Again, she nearly laughs.

“Actually, yeah,” says Brad. “Sara’s - ”

“I’m getting married!” Sara interrupts gleefully, thrusting out her hand to show off an understated but charming engagement ring. 

And so they talk about that, about how Sara’s fiancée is an artist who is trying to get his own comic book published, how Sara’s mother would much rather her only daughter marry a doctor or a lawyer but is still supportive and excited for the wedding, how Brad is in the computer business now thanks to an internship he’d gotten while in college, how Daryl is climbing the ladder at an auto dealership…

The meal passes all too quickly, once Chris’ initial nervousness dissipates, and it’s like they were never apart. Too soon they’re saying goodbye, with Chris promising she will make it to Sara’s wedding come hell or high water, clutching the invitation in her hand as they all exit the building.

“Hey, can I have a second?” Brad asks, as the others go to their cars.

She falters, strangely nervous again.

“Sure.”

He’s smiling at her when she turns back around, and it’s a lovely soft smile that makes Chris feel seventeen again. 

“I just wanted to say - ” he starts, and her own smile grows. “I’ve never forgotten that night. Sometimes it’s like it never even happened, it seems so unreal now. But I know it did something to me, changed me in some really profound way. I guess I want to say thanks...you know…for everything. You were amazing.”

There’s no time to prepare for it when Brad leans forward and kisses her on the cheek. By the time he’s pulling away Chris is blushing, something she hasn’t done in many years. This whole trip back home has felt like some bizarre time travel out of body experience, more so than ever in this moment. She’d always wondered if Brad had ever held any sort of grudge over how she’d treated his crush on her back then, but she guesses that question has just been answered.

“Brad – ”

He’s got a hand on her shoulder, comforting and graceful. 

She wonders, if things had been different, if Brad had been just a couple of years older, then maybe…

“Come see us in the city sometime. Sara would love it.”

“Just Sara?” Chris teases with a chuckle, and Brad grins as snow starts to tumble gently from the greying sky above.

Driving away a few moments later, Chris is so happy she came back home this year.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was posted without the assistance of a beta reader. Any mistakes are my own but hopefully I've caught them all.


End file.
